KS Dalia Schaechter

The Israeli-born mezzo-soprano has lived and worked in Cologne since 1995, where she has become a fixture in musical life. After her studies at the Musikhochschule in Munich, she was engaged at the Studio of the Vienna State Opera (1988 to 1990). She soon came to the attention of Claudio Abbado, under whose direction she performed in various concerts. Dalia Schaechter has performed at the Vienna State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Théâtre de Châtelet in Paris and Teatro Comunale di Bologna, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Bayreuth Festival.

At Oper Köln she grew into dramatic repertoire and created a wide variety of different roles. She has been heard here as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's "Macbeth", Josefa Miranda in Peter Eötvös' "Love and Other Demons", Amneris in "Aida", Preziosilla in "La forza del destino", Clytemnestra in "Elektra" and as Fricka and Waltraute in Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen", to name but a few. She also performed the latter two roles during Oper Köln’s guest performance at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, China.

Guest engagements have taken her to Bologna, Palermo, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Herodias in "Salome"), Tel Aviv, Wiesbaden and Saarbrücken. At the 2017 Bregenz Festival she sang in the world premiere of "To the Lighthouse" by Zesses Siglias, and in Valencia she gave a guest performance as Auntie in "Peter Grimes" by Benjamin Britten at the beginning of 2018. She made a guest appearance at Staatstheater Nuremberg in the 2021.22 season as Azucena in "Il trovatore".

In addition to her work on the opera stage, Dalia Schaechter has been involved with the genre of folksong for many years. With her song recital series "A Liedele in Yiddish – a Klezmer evening with soup chicken", "Lieder und Liedele – a dialogue between Yiddish and German folk songs" and the multicultural evening "Strangers among Strangers", she recorded a particular success with the Cologne audience and earned high recognition for this commitment, which is also societally relevant.

Most recently she appeared at the Oper Köln as Herodias in "Salome", Witch Jezibaba in "Rusalka", Emma Jones in "Street Scene", Queen Gertrude in the German premiere of Brett Dean's "Hamlet", Lea / Rachel in the world premiere "Mazeltov, Brigitta/Lucienne in Korngold's "Die tote Stadt", Witch Jezibaba in "Rusalka", Knusperhexe in "Hänsel und Gretel" and Kater Behemoth in York Höller's "Der Meister und Margarita" as well as in the Viennese evening "Im Prater blüh'n wieder die Bäume".

In the 2022.23 season at Oper Köln, she will appearance as Hécube in "Les Troyens" and Mary in "Der fliegende Holländer", among other roles. Dalia Schaechter also performed at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Kostelnička in "Jenůfa" and as Herodias in "Salome" at the Oper Zürich.

Dalia Schaechter has been a Kammersängerin of the City of Cologne since 2008.